Tuesday, July 10, 2012

McCormick Gourmet Dinner Party Chain Feast

Some people dream about winning their ideal beach getaway, being transported to white sand beaches and spending hours relaxing while enjoying drinks with tiny umbrellas.

I dream about throwing fabulous dinner parties, spending countless hours planning a cohesive menu, shopping for the freshest ingredients and sitting down with friends at the end of a long day of cooking to enjoy the feast.

After seeing the fantastic dinner party Joanne put together for her family, I decided to enter McCormick's Gourmet Dinner Party Chain Contest for my own opportunity to host the dinner party of my dreams. I sat down at the computer, crafted my 50 words or less describing my ideal theme (a farmers' market feast), and hit enter.

Thanks to McCormick I had the resources I needed to bring my dream dinner party to life. The boxes started coming in. A spice rack featuring 16 of McCormick's Gourmet Collection Spices. A handy tote bag (perfect for farmers' market excursions), stuffed with spoons, a mortar and pestle, cookbooks and more. An American Express card to buy groceries. A $100 gift card to buy wine (wine!) from Lot 18. And then a half case of wine in the mail about a week later.

It felt like Christmas in June.

I started planning immediately, within minutes of getting the email from McCormick informing me of my win. I'm not sure if they anticipated the weeks of enjoyment I would get out of pouring over blogs, visiting the farmers' markets to see what was fresh and local and even creating my own Pinterest board with some of my favorite ideas.

I wanted the food to be fresh and seasonal, to create a menu based on what was available that day in the New York City farmers' markets. Nearly every ingredient we served up was sourced locally, from the coarse cornmeal in the polenta rounds to the scallops and goat cheese. And I wanted each course to feature a different McCormick Gourmet Collection spice, so I could really showcase the range of flavors the spices offer.

Remember those really great friends I ate dinner with last weekend? While I'm the "let's all serve ourselves straight out of the pan" type, they've got a sophistication to them that I admire. They helped me curate the perfect, cohesive menu that stretched me out of my comfort zone.

Those same friends came with me to shop at the farmers' market that morning so we could source as many ingredients locally as possible. Then they came over to my apartment, on a 90 degree day, where the oven was turned up to 500 degrees, to help capture my cooking on camera. And they agreed to host the meal, so our guests wouldn't be subjected to the stiffing heat and lack of ventilation in my kitchen.

I know, I'm lucky.

Our dinner lasted for hours, nine of us around one big table, sharing food and wine, laughter and stories.

We made it through three flights of pinot noirs, paired with the different courses.

We played cards for hours.

We strengthened friendships.

And we ate very, very well. Here's a peek at our tasting menu, with recipes to come (I didn't want to overwhelm this post with too many of them).